SA sends observers to Sudan
David Masango
22 October 2004
South Africa is to send 10 military observers to war-torn Sudan to assist with the African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in that country.
The decision to take part in the African Observer Mission in Sudan was approved by the Cabinet in Cape Town on Wednesday.
The move follows a request from the United Nations for the African Union to deploy a peacekeeping force in the troubled country, government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said.
"It has been agreed that South Africa will contribute 10 military observers from the South African National Defence Force for the period up to March 2006", Netshitenzhe said.
There are currently about 300 troops from Rwanda and Nigeria in Darfur, charged with protecting the ceasefire monitors.
The government of Sudan has long opposed plans to boost the force, but recently accepted that the number of troops be increased. It is not yet clear, however, whether Khartoum has accepted a change of
mandate, from protection to fully-fledged peacekeeping.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the African Union said the mandate of the new force, which will number almost 3 500, is to "contribute to a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian relief and ... the return of internally displaced people and refugees to their homes".
The force, said the AU, is also to "contribute to the improvement of the security situation throughout Darfur", and that the mandate would allow the force to "protect civilians whom it encounters under imminent threat".
The AU added that the force would be allowed to "deter uncontrolled armed groups from committing hostile acts against the population", but it is not clear whether the African force will be allowed to actively attempt to disarm the Janjaweed militia, which is accused of wreaking havoc among the civilian population since the conflict started early in 2003.
The United Nations estimates that 70 000 people have died
from violence, starvation and disease since the conflict started.
The 20-month-old civil war in the western Darfur region has displaced 1.5-million people in a conflict that the UN has described as the world's worst ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Source: BuaNews
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